Health News

Hope for 'one vaccine against many types of pore-forming toxins'

Date: Dec-03-2013
Nanosponges that soak up a dangerous pore-forming toxin produced by MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) could serve as a safe and effective vaccine against this toxin. This "nanosponge vaccine" enabled the immune systems of mice to block the adverse effects of the alpha-haemolysin toxin from MRSA - both within the bloodstream and on the skin. Nanoengineers from the University of California, San Diego described the safety and efficacy of this nanosponge vaccine in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.

Ensuring continuity of quality patient care - AMA position statement on general practice/hospitals transfer of care arrangements 2013, Australia

Date: Dec-03-2013
The AMA has released its Position Statement on General Practice/Hospitals Transfer of Care Arrangements 2013.This Position Statement outlines requirements for appropriate and effective transfer of care arrangements for GPs and hospitals, which are also applicable to other areas of the health system, including rehabilitation, residential aged care, and community care.AMA President, Dr Steve Hambleton, said patients are relying more than ever on their GP to coordinate their care needs, particularly around the time of hospital admission and discharge.

Researchers pinpoint superbug's resistance protein

Date: Dec-03-2013
Researchers have identified a resistance protein that allows bacteria to survive chlorhexidine, a disinfectant commonly used in wipes, cleansers and mouthwashes in hospitals.A study led jointly by the University of Leeds and Macquarie University in Australia showed how the superbug Acinetobacter baumannii - prevalent among soldiers treated in medical facilities in Iraq and Afghanistan - can pump the disinfectant out of its system.The findings are critical for the design of new chemicals to combat the germ.

Cyclin D1 controls cell cycle progression and microRNA biogenesis through Dicer - a new mechanism promoting breast cancer

Date: Dec-03-2013
Cyclin D1, a protein that helps push a replicating cell through the cell cycle also mediates the processing and generation of mature microRNA (miRNA), according to new research publishing in Nature Communications. The research suggests that a protein strongly implicated in human cancer also governs the non-protein-coding genome. The non-coding genome, previously referred to as junk DNA, makes up most of the human genome, and unlike the coding genome, varies greatly between species.

Can sexual frustration be bad for your health?

Date: Dec-03-2013
Sex may in fact be one of the secrets to good health, youth and a longer life - at least for fruit flies - suggests a new University of Michigan study that appears in the journal Science.Male fruit flies that perceived sexual pheromones of their female counterparts - without the opportunity to mate - experienced rapid decreases in fat stores, resistance to starvation and more stress. The sexually frustrated flies lived shorter lives.Mating, on the other hand, partially reversed the negative effects on health and aging.

Spontaneous recall of a memory activates its neural geotag

Date: Dec-03-2013
Using a video game in which people navigate through a virtual town delivering objects to specific locations, a team of neuroscientists from the University of Pennsylvania and Freiburg University has discovered how brain cells that encode spatial information form "geotags" for specific memories and are activated immediately before those memories are recalled.Their work shows how spatial information is incorporated into memories and why remembering an experience can quickly bring to mind other events that happened in the same place.

Positive effects in children after home visits by nurses, paraprofessionals

Date: Dec-02-2013
Home visits by nurses and paraprofessionals to children of low-income women had some positive benefits for the children on cognitive and behavioral measures, according to the results of a clinical trial published by JAMA Pediatrics, a JAMA Network publication.Home visits by nurses to low-income families have been promoted as one strategy to improve health and development outcomes for first-born children from those families, according to the study background.David L. Olds, Ph.D.

Genes and air pollution combine to increase autism risk

Date: Dec-02-2013
Children with a particular gene variant who are exposed to air pollution appear to be at a higher risk of developing autism, according to researchers from the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California (USC). Drawing on results of previous studies that have shown associations between air pollution and autism, and between autism and the MET gene, the researchers say their new study reveals that the combination of these factors increases the risk of autism. The study will be published in the January 2014 edition of Epidemiology.

Energy drinks alter heart function, study shows

Date: Dec-02-2013
Energy drinks have become a multi-billion dollar industry that continues to grow, yet regulation of this enterprise remains largely unchecked. Now, a new study shows that healthy adults who consume energy drinks have "significantly increased" heart contraction rates an hour later. The research was recently presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).The study authors, including Dr.

New colorectal cancer target found in stem cell gene

Date: Dec-02-2013
Researchers in Canada found that switching off a gene in the cancer stem cells that drive colon cancer stops them from being able to renew themselves. They say their study offers a starting point to treatments that could shut the cancer down.Cancer stem cells are cells that have the ability to differentiate into all the types of cell that exist in that type of tumor.